Shingle cutting guide

ABSTRACT

The disclosure is directed to a roofer&#39;&#39;s cutting guide for use in trimming tab asphalt shingles to a predetermined length. The guide consists of a plate of predetermine width and having a pair of parallel edges for guiding a shingle cutting tool. One of the edges is partially cut away to form a third parallel edge which also conforms in part to the shape of a slot lying between and defining the shingle tabs. The width of the plate is chosen so that upon alignment of the third edge with the shingle slot, the shingle can be trimmed lengthwise either at the slot or along a transverse line lying mid-way between two slots.

United States Patent 1' Smith Mar. 19, 1974 SHINGLE CUTTING GUIDE [76] Inventor: Gerald P. Smith, Rt. No. 5, Bemidji,

Minn. 56601 1 22 Filed: Feb. 4, 1971 211 Appl.No.:1l2,702

[52] U.S. Cl. .l. 33/174 G, 33/104 [51] Int. Cl. Gllb 5/16 [58] Field of Search 33/104, 107, 174 B, 174 G,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 635,050 10/1899 MacFarren 33/112 2,364,529 12/1944 Hill 33/104 2.452.962 11/1948 Snethen 33/107 R 2.642.674 6/1953 Schell 33/104 2.687.753 8/1954 Mount 145/129 2,827,712 3/1958 Roberts 145/129 Primary Examiner-Leonard Forman Assistant ExqminerDennis A. Dearing Attorney, Agent, or FirmMerchant, Gould, Smith & Edell [57] ABSTRACT The disclosure is directed to a roofers cutting guide for use in trimming tab asphalt shingles to a predetermined length. The guide consists of a plate of predetermine width and having a pair of parallel edges for guiding a shingle cutting tool. One of the edges is partially cut away to form a third parallel edge which also conforms in part to the shape of a slot lying between and defining the shingle tabs. The width of the plate is chosen so that upon alignment of the third edge with I the shingle slot, the shingle can be trimmed lengthwise either at the slot or along a transverse line lying midway between two slots.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures SHINGLE CUTTING GUIDE The invention is directed to a tool for trimming tab asphaltshingles to a desired length.

One of the most popular roofing materials used residential structures is the asphalt shingle. In most commonly used form, the asphalt shingle is generally rectangular and includes a plurality of equidistantly spaced transverse slots that define shingle tabs. Ordinarily, a half slot is also provided in each end of the tab shingle so that the end to'end joinder of like shingles forms a full slot therebetween.

The tab shingles are laid and nailed end to end in horizontal rows (courses), beginning at the lower edge of the roof. Each succeeding course overlaps the previous course a predetermine amount, and is also laterally staggered with respect thereto in order that each endto-end junction in thelower course is fully overlapped.

Laterally staggering a course of shingles with respect to a previous course'is effected by trimming the first shingle in the course'to a length whereby each slot in that shingle and each-succeeding shingle in the course lies mid-way'between' the slots in the previous course. Ordinarily, it is also the better practice to stagger each course. so that'the end-to-end junctions on alternating rows do not lie on the same line. Thus, the desired lateral staggering can be brought about by trimming the first and last shingles in'a course either at the slot or at a point mid-way between slots.

The trimming itself is done by a shingle knife, preferably in combination with some type of straight edge. However, positioning the straight edge involves some degree of guesswork since the optimum cut must be precisely at or between slots and exactly perpendicular with the longitudinal shingle edges. An error in either respect must be compensated for to keep the course on a true and accurate line.

My invention is directed to a shingle cutting guide which eliminates the guesswork "in trimming shingles and the time losses and inconveniences resulting from trimming errors. In the preferred embodiment, the inventivedevice consists of a guide plate the length of which is at least as great as a shingle width, and having a width equal to one half the distance between shingle slots. The width is defined by first and second parallel guiding edges, one of which is cut away in part to define a third offset parallel edge. The offset distance is one half of a shingle slot width, thus permitting the shingle to be trimmed along either of the first and second parallel edges after the third edge has been aligned with one side of the shingle slot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a residential structure showing courses of overlapped and staggered tab asphalt shingles;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a shingle cutting guide and a tab asphalt shingle;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale of the shingle cutting guide taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 4 is a top plan of the shingle cutting guide operatively positioned on a tab asphalt shingle;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view showing the shingle cutting guide operatively positioned on a modified type of tab asphalt shingle; and

FIG. 6 is a top plan of tab asphalt shingle and the possible right and left end lengths to which it can be trimmed with the shingle cutting guide.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring initially to FIGS. 2-4, a shingle cutting guide represented generally by the numeral 1 l is shown to consist of a cutting plate 12 and a handle 13. Shingle cutting guide 11 is intended for use with an asphalt shingle 14 which includes a plurality of equidistantly spaced transverse slots 15 defining tabs 16. A half slot 20 is provided in each end of shingle 14 (FIG. 2) so that a full slot is formed between like shingles when laid end to end.

Plate 12 of cutting guide 11 is generally rectangular in shape, having'a length at least as long as the width of shingle 14. As best seen in FIG. 4, the width of plate 12 is equal to one half the normal distance between slots 15, taken center to center. Side edges 17 and 18 of plate 12 are parallel and serve as guiding edges for the cutting operation, as described below.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 4, the uppermost portion of edge 17 is cut away to form a third parallel edge 19 offset from edge 17. The offset distance is equal to one half the width of a shingle slot 15. That portion of plate 12 joining edges 17 and 19 is rounded to conform to the shape of slot 15 at its bottom. In the preferred embodiment, the offset distance of edge 19 is chosen to permit alignment with the slot of a conventional tab asphalt shingle. However, as shown particularly in FIG. 5, notches 21 may be formed in edge 19 to enable alignment of guide 11 on tab asphalt shingles 14 having slots 15a wider than ordinary.

Referring to FIG. 3, handle 13 is attached to plate 12 by screws 22 which pass through countersunk holes 23 in plate 12 and screw into threaded openings in handle 13. Holes 23 are countersunk on both sides of plate 12 to permit handle 13 to be attached on either side for right or left-handed person.

FIG. 6 shows shingle-I4 and the several lengths A-H to which it may be trimmedby cutting on dotted lines 2529 with the use of cutting guide 11. All of the lengths A-I-I can be obtained by aligning edge 19 with the appropriate slot 15 or half slot 20 and cutting the shingle along either edge 17 or edge 18 (FIGS. 2 and 4).

As shown in FIG. 1, each of the several lengths shown in FIG. 6 is required for a proper roofing job. Starting at the lower-left-hand corner of the structure, a full shingle is laid to start the lowermost course, and is followed by full length shingles until the lower-right-hand is reached. This last shingle must be trimmed, as described above, to conform to the edge of the house.

The second course of shingles overlaps the first and is laterally staggered by trimming a shingle 14 along dotted line 29 to produce a length F, as shown in FIG. 6. The second course is completed with full length shingles, the last shingle again being trimmed to conform to the edge of the roof.

The third course is again laterally staggered by cutting the first shingle along dotted line 28 to obtain a length D, and the fourth course is started with a shingle of length G obtained by cutting along dotted line 27. The fifth and sixth courses start with shingles trimmed at lines 26 and 25 to produce lengths B and H, respectively, and the staggering continues in the seventh course through use of a full length shingle.

As stated above, the last shingle in each course is trimmed to an appropriate length to conform to the right edge of the roof. Since building materials and practices are uniform, the overall length of each shingle course is usually a multiple of the smallest length F. Consequently, the last shingle in each course can be pretrimmed on dotted lines 25-29 to produce shingle lengths A-E, which are used at the right edge of the roof as shown in FIG. 1.

- The shingle cutting guide 11 thus allows the roofer to quickly, efficiently and accurately trim all shingles prior to beginning the roofing job. The inventive device is therefore able to conserve the roofers time while bringing more accuracy to his work.

I claim:

1. A cutting guide for a shingle having a predetermined length and width and a plurality of equidistantly spaced transverse slots defining tabs, the cutting guide comprising:

a. a guide plate having a predetermined width defined by first and second essentially parallel edges, the width being approximately one-half the normal distance between adjacent shingle slots;

b. handle means connected to the guide plate;

c. and means for enabling visual alignment of the guide plate with a shingle slot so that one of the first and second edges lies midway between adjacent slots and essentially parallel thereto, comprising a cutaway portion on the other of said first and second edges defining a third edge essentially parallel to the first and second edges, the third edge being offset from the other of said edges a distance equal to one-half the width of a shingle slot.

2. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the length of the guide plate is at least as great as the width of a shingle.

3. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the guide plate is generally rectangular.

4. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the cut-away portion conforms in shape to a shingle slot.

5. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the handle means is removably connected to either side of the guide plate.

6. The cutting guide as defined by claim 5, wherein:

a. at least one hole is formed in the guide plate, the hole being countersunk on both sides of the guide plate;

b. and the hadle means is connected to the guide plate by a screw extending through the opening and into the handle means.

7. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, and further comprising a plurality of notches formed in the third parallel edge to permit alignment of the guide plate with a wider shingle slot. 

1. A cutting guide for a shingle having a predetermined length and width and a plurality of equidistantly spaced transverse slots defining tabs, the cutting guide comprising: a. a guide plate having a predetermined width defined by first and second essentially parallel edges, the width being approximately one-half the normal distance between adjacent shingle slots; b. handle means connected to the guide plate; c. and means for enabling visual alignment of the guide plate with a shingle slot so that one of the first and second edges lies midway between adjacent slots and essentially parallel thereto, comprising a cutaway portion on the other of said first and second edges defining a third edge essentially parallel to the first and second edges, the third edge being offset from the other of said edges a distance equal to onehalf the width of a shingle slot.
 2. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the length of the guide plate is at least as great as the width of a shingle.
 3. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the guide plate is generally rectangular.
 4. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the cut-away portion conforms in shape to a shingle slot.
 5. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, wherein the handle means is removably connected to either side of the guide plate.
 6. The cutting guide as defined by claim 5, wherein: a. at least one hole is formed in the guide plate, the hole being countersunk on both sides of the guide plate; b. and the hadle means is connected to the guide plate by a screw extending through the opening and into the handle means.
 7. The cutting guide as defined by claim 1, and further comprising a plurality of notches formed in the third parallel edge to permit alignment of the guide plate with a wider shingle slot. 